Can he do that

My OH is so confusing. He says that i must put the house up for sale asap (which i agree, is sensible) as both of us will need to release the equity in the marital home to buy anywhere else. However, our house may take some time to sell, its a fixer upper and although has new roof, drains drive etc etc still needs work internally. He now says he will leave me in the house until it sells but will not pay his half of the mortgage once he leaves (can he do this because i will struggle to pay for everything and carry on with the internal works on my salary alone)!!!

I assume the equity from the house will be split 50 / 50 so if he does do this can i reclaim him half of the mortgage payments which he has defaulted on from the proceeds of the sale?

Bridget,
You don't necessarily have to put the house up for sale yet.

By the sounds of it, it isn't really the time to do it, if a whole lot of work needs doing.

You would need to post up some details about the house value, outstanding mortgage, yours and his income, any savings, debts, pensions or investments and any significant assets over £500.00 for someone to give you an idea of how a court might decide a settlement.

The housing needs of the children are paramount - even if your STBX is not the natural father. Once the sums are done, it may be that the house may be required to house the girls until they hit 18 or 19 in full time education.

Is your stbx beyond reason? Surely it's better to do up the house to get better saleability and a better price?

What if your 17 yo were to start doing some painting, or wallpaper stripping to help get the house finished? Would he soften?

Post up some more info, and someone will be able to give you an idea of what the likely settlement might be.

Keep smiling - even if it hurts!

Take care

Mike

The pot only starts at 50/50. with kids staying with you it rises in your favour Id work around the figure of 60/40 to you, if youve read any other posts in here, then make sure you have any income going into your account only, drop all acess to anything shared tell bank why. There are certain firms who will buy your house for a silly sum and rent it back to you if you wanted to stay there. Warnning let no money change hands till the FH. and only done through soliciters.

Ok, well he earns about 36K and i earn more, he has a pension which is not doing well. My pension is fairly good, its a final salary scheme and my employers contribute 13% to it aswell. The house has about 180K in equity and i have investments totalling about £18k. So i have spoken to a solicitor who is saying 50 50 on house and try keep my pension and investments for the kids! Although we have been married for only 3 years and together for six, I am hoping he will consider that the investments etc were from before i met him etc.

3 year marriage is short, so general rule of thumb is each party takes out what they put in the marriage.

On that basis, you keep your pension and investments, he keeps his and you split any profit on the equity that there is in the house 50:50.

I still think he has child benefit obligations - that would equate to 25% of his nett income (after tax and NI), reduced by 1/7 for every regular night that the children stay with him. From what you have said, it is unlikely that he would have them to stay.

Best of luck

Mike

Mike is right more info needed to give clarity to what each of you have at the momement.

You OH will have new needs once he moves out, and therefore may well not be able to pay towards the mortgage, however it must be paid as a priority because lenders are very itchy at the moment due to uncertainty in the market place and some of them are issuing default notices after 3 months arrears.

Have a look at the mortgage details, is there a clause enabling you to take a 'Payment Holiday' if so take that up urgently, gives you a bit of breathing space and some money to start finishing off.

Would not recommend selling in it's present condition as it will only appeal to those that want to DIY or someone wanting a quick undervalue buy, to finish off and sell for a huge profit.